Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Do You Austin's First Anniversary Bash

I remember being at the first meeting of this group started by an acquaintance of mine a year ago. Do You Austin (as in Do you, Austin.) started out as a small group of women looking for  solutions to care for natural hair. In just one year, has expanded to over a hundred men and women and kids who come together to celebrate life, encourage and support entrepreneurship, natural living, wellness, art, music, dance and all things beautiful. Do You Austin has come a long way from being just about natural hair care, but you know what? There's no other resource that has been more useful for finding out where to get  your natural hair done or who to consult about caring for your hair at home in Austin.

HomeGirl and Friends Did Good! Johnsons's® "Girl Talk Cause Party" for Dress For Success Austin

Recently, I had the honor of hosting a Johnson's® "Girl Talk Cause Party". All I need is any old excuse to throw a party, so I jumped at the opportunity to host a party for a good cause when I received the email from the Blogalicious marketing network, bLink, a few months ago. Johnson's® provided body care goodies for my guests, encouraging me to bring women together to celebrate friendship and to make a difference in our community by creating awareness and support for a charity that supports women. I was excited to create awareness, have a blast and send everybody away with a goodie bag, but I also wanted to really do something for the charity I selected. I wanted my party to make a tangible difference. So I contacted Dress For Success Austin to invite them to my event and find out how we could support them.

Dress for Success is a worldwide organization that provides interview suits, work clothes and support through career mentoring programs for women who have found themselves at a disadvantage. Judy, Executive Director, told me that they had a strong need for hair care products. Later, my tour of their facility confirmed that there was not one bottle of shampoo on their shelves. Y'all know hair is one of the many topics I write about on this blog. I understand the relationship between the appearance of our hair is to our confidence, especially in job interview situations. By collecting hair products, I felt like in some small way, my party would affect the mini-makeover process for a handful of women (and much fun are makeovers?!).  Thus, HomeGirl's Shampoo & Cupcakes  For A Cause party was officially on!

Corinne Bailey Rae Concert: Austin, TX

I hooked up with some of my lady friends and took in CBR's show at La Zona Rosa last weekend. I was surprised at how much she actually kinda rocked out. I had expected a low-key show, but it was live! Her band was amazing. Fortunately, her show was at a small venue, so we got to see her up close. How beautiful is this woman?! A friend of mine called her mesmerizing and that's exactly what she is. Pure talent is when an artist can stand on a stage, sans pyrotechnics and background dancers, barely move around and still command your attention. I didn't want to look away. Everything about her up there singing was awesome. I was kinda forced to look away for a quick hot minute when I passed out...yes...went blind and deaf and ended up on my hind parts on the floor during her first or second set. No I wasn't drinking--I was actually the designated driver, and No I'm not pregnant again--yet--I think. It was standing only and hot and crowded and I'm sure I wasn't moving around enough. Plus the air was stagnant and it all just added up to me falling out. It went down something like this:

After feeling like I had to puke and getting dizzy, I reached out and touched one of my friends on the shoulder...

Me: "Leesha, something is wrong. I feel like I'm 'bout to pass out."
Leesha: "You okay, Quel?!"
Me: "No."

Blind. Deaf. Floor.

 

X Marks The Spot

 
This is where you'll find me...

I'll be back soon to announce book giveaway winners (see previous posts, there's still time to enter!), and to get on with my usual Homegirl randomness.

P.S. I love my fancy digital camera, but am photographing my entire vacation almost exclusively on an iPhone 4. This thing is a beast! That is all.